Why all SMEs need a data backup strategy

by Jay Williams

The saying ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’ is peddled around far too frequently these days. If you own a small-to-medium sized business, however, it’s a statement that’ll seem remarkably apt should you ever be unfortunate enough to suffer data loss.

Data is often an unsung hero in the world of business. Outside of organisations specialising in technology, the vital role that it provides and the invaluable insights that can be gleaned from it are often undervalued or, worse, not even considered. In the event that you suffer from data loss, however, you’ll soon realise the important role it plays in your day-to-day activity.

Consider for a moment just how important things like emails, spreadsheets, word documents and more are to your business. Whether you’re talking about customer services, sales, fulfilment or any other department, chances are they all utilise data in some way shape or form. Should your employees find that they’re suddenly unable to access client records, job logs, emails etc. it’s going to adversely affect your business in every conceivable way – that’s why you need a robust backup strategy.

At Fields Data Recovery, we regularly receive enquiries from business owners who – following them having lost data – have had no choice but to ‘down tools’ for several days whilst their information is being recovered. If they had backed up their data, the disruption brought about by the failure of their primary storage would have been minimised, yet research continues to show that more than a quarter of SMEs have no effective backup plan in place for their desktops or servers. It’s clear that many business owners do not consider managing data backups to be a priority but, whilst this is entirely understandable, it’s something they’re likely to regret.

A robust and reliable backup plan can be constructed in accordance with any SME’s budgetary requirements. Data can be easily duplicated and the drives that contain this data can be stored on-site on devices such as external HDDs, off-site in data centres or, for a backup strategy that is truly robust yet still affordable, both.

In summary, whilst a data backup strategy may be the last thing on your mind, not having one could one day have a serious and adverse effect on your bottom line! Think for just a moment: is this a risk worth taking? We’re sure you’ll agree it isn’t.

Bio

Jay Williams is employed by Fields Data Recovery as a communications officer and has been with the company for more than a decade. In his spare time, he enjoys gaming, exercising and persistently attempting to convince his wife that their two-year-old daughter needs a Nintendo Switch.